Thursday, January 13, 2011

no worries, no worries


Hello Everyone

On my very first visit to Kenya our very large plane was beginning its decent when all of a sudden the plane jerked up. Everyone was stunned and quite, after what seemed like a very long time but was really a few minutes the pilot came on and said "No worries, no worries we just have to clear the livestock off of the runway!" Well we certainly did not have to slear any of the live stock off the runway--the landing was smooth. The Jomo Kenyatta Intl Airport has done some renovation and looks very good. Getting our visas went without a hitch and then it was to retreive our baggage. It all went pretty well--all of our bags made it. Now customs--Lauren had made a connection with one of the customs officer so she lead the way. Some of the bags were damaged in flight and he began inspecting them--we quickly handed him a packing slip. We are a pretty large group and he began to address the whole group and then I stepped up and said who I was and that this was a medical mission. At first he would not make eye contact with me and I thought in that moment that I was about to lose this effort and have to try and negotiate a payment plan. "You have medicines?" "No", I replied "I am an eye doctor." "You are eye doctors?" and he immediately waved us through. He must have had a second thought as we were making our way through the doors "Wait, what is in this box?" "Handles for garden tools", I replied. By this time half of the team had met Juli McGowan one of our mission contacts. He looked at me, looked at the packing slip looked out of the door and once again waved myself and the rest of the team through. Yee-haa!! The team smiled and high fived one another as we made our way to the waiting vans to take our supplies to Kipkaren and the other waiting van to take us to Mayfield, which is a very pleasant and beautiful home that has been made into a hostel. It's only 3:30 in the afternoon in Cedar Rapids but it is 11:30PM here and we need to get up at 4am to be at the airport by 5am to catch our 6am flight to Eldoret. So I am going to sign off soon for now-- but all I can say, if I am a cat with nine lives, getting through customs, I am grateful to the "powers that be" that I have a few lives left.

Mayfield house


We made it to Kenya and in good order, but what a long day. Not to often you travel with little or no issues. (knock on wood, we still have to get home) The biggest problem we had was that a lot of our action packers were open when we got them. No lost bags or totes, we won't know if anything is missing until we get to the village. (Keep your fingers crossed) One more leg of our journey tomorrow and we will be in Kipkaren. Everyone is excited to be here and ready to get to work.


Hello to everyone back home, hope all is well there.

Jennifer

Jelly Bellies over the Sahara

Hello everyone

We have arrived, at least as far as Nairobi. And yes, I got a little homesick somewhere over the Sahara Desert. Fortunately a modest handful of Jelly Bellies brought me back to the reality that I am on the most exciting adventure of my life. Okay, I may have eaten the entire bag. The flights were fine. I've seen enough movies to last me for a while. I did watch 15 minutes of one movie before realizing they were speaking French. Guess I should have been napping instead.

At this moment we have checked into Mayfield Hostel and it is so much like a camp retreat center that I feel right at home. Even a dining hall. It will be a short night, though, as we will be up and off to Kipkaren by 6am. I suppose I should try and sleep but who can sleep when there is so much excitement. Sleep is highly overated, as my friend Fitz would say. So I shall save my sleeping for sometime in March.

My love to all those who have given me the encouragement and support to step out of my comfort zone and travel so far to help other people.

More Jelly Bely tales later.

Going to sign off now.